"The Grace of God Has Appeared"

 

"For the Grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say 'No' to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age while we wait for the blessed hope."

 

            At its best, Christmas touches us with beauty and grace. It inspires us and draws us to moments of true worship. I know there are many things that can get in the way, and I am not talking here about having "the perfect Christmas" as our culture would define it. But in this season, the Lord is able to give us moments of peace, love and joy when we place our minds on Christ, and the gift of Christ to the world.

            I have good memories of going to Julotta, especially in Jamestown, but also in Mt. Vernon; an early Christmas service, beginning while it is still dark or just getting light, in the quiet of a winter morning. I found it was a good time to be still and to receive the Savior's love. Christmas Eve worship has also often been very special for me; to hear the music of Christmas played and sung by people I know well and love. Something happens in my soul: an experience of peace and love and joy. 

There are other things that seem to happen at Christmas. A few days ago a man stopped by whom we had helped financially a number of times, and we had included his family in the Christmas gifts. He came to say thanks, and tell me that life was going much better now. He had a good job and his wife's cancer was in remission and they felt blessed. I think of Dan and Ann Frost's accident and how they and others were spared by God, even though there was injury. And of Richard Kindstrom, who is now recovering from infection, doing much better from a week ago, when he almost died. There are times around Christmas when we open our hearts to the gifts and provision of God and feel it in a deeper way.

            I find Advent to be a stressful time and my anxiety goes up as Christmas draws close. There is always more to do than I can do and I have less energy with the low sunlight in December. But then Christmas arrives and ready or not, there are moments of blessing and life is OK again. In Jamestown, the custom was that after Julotta there were breakfasts in a variety of homes, and you would get invited to one, not to stay a long time, but it was always nice to have breakfast together after the early morning service. The price of rising early on Christmas morning was rewarded.

             In Titus we read that "The grace of God has appeared." We look to Jesus. We see his grace and touch it. We receive it. We are glad. And then what?

             In the Gospels, the shepherds go back to work, after seeing Jesus. The Magi go back home, after paying homage to the king. Did their moment of grace change their lives at all? Did they learn to live godly lives in this present age?

 It seems something happened to the Magi, as they do not return to tell Herod where the baby was. They did what was right.

 Joseph was trying to do the honorable thing by quietly divorcing Mary, but after he understood what this meant, he lived in a righteous way and took Mary to be his wife. There are a few hints that the grace of God in Christ did change some lives, did make a difference in the long term.

            Paul writes to Titus that the appearing of the grace of God does lead us to a change of behavior. Titus was a co-worker with Paul, and he was one of Paul's trusted companions that Paul would send into churches to correct a problem or build up the church. These were not easy assignments, and Titus had been sent both to Corinth and to Crete, both difficult places. In this instance, Paul sent Titus to Crete to change the behavior in a church by the grace of God and through the hope of Christ's return. He was to organize the church, deal with the crisis of false teachers in the church, help the members live in a new way, and develop leaders who would set good examples in faith and not disgrace the Lord and his church.

            There is a prayer that comes from the church in China which says, "Help each one of us, gracious Father, to live in such magnanimity and restraint that the Head of the church may never have cause to say to any one of us, 'This is my body, broken by you.' " That is what Titus was trying to bring about in Crete.

            Crete was not an easy place to plant a church. In chapter 1, verse 12, Paul quotes one of the local philosophers, "Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons." Wherever this behavior came from in the culture, it seemed also to be in the church. So, Paul begins chapter 2 by listing some behavior changes that are necessary. We might be surprised at some of them. The main issue seems to be a lack of self-control. It seems people were living chaotic, dysfunctional lives, over indulging in most anything. He mentions too much alcohol as a problem among the older men and women, and that was leading to slander and hurtful talking. There was apparently among the younger ones a lack of love in families, wives for husbands and mothers for children. Maybe they did not know how to love each other. Some had trouble finding something worthwhile to do at home. The slaves, many of whom were in charge of households, were stealing from their masters and had the habit of talking back. That means they were disputing what the master told them to do, directly contradicting them or even refusing to do what they were instructed to do. That is always a bad situation in any business.

            Paul tells Titus to deal with this situation by setting a good example, showing integrity, gaining their respect and not quarreling but encouraging and training. They were not used to having good examples and so they had developed a culture of criticism which is what people do when they do not know how to encourage, how to help out, and how to work together. Titus was not there to do battle. He was sent to set an example and win them over with sound doctrine and moral living.

            The basis of the changed behavior in the church was to be an experience of the grace of Christ. "The grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people." This is the message of Christmas. When people find Jesus, they want to receive salvation. Those in the church in Crete had received salvation. Now they needed to be trained by grace. "It teaches us to say 'no' to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age."

            Last Monday night I was in my office when the Narcotics Anonymous meeting let out. I could hear a sidewalk discussion between a veteran of the group and a newcomer who seemed very unsure that he could stop using drugs. The man explained very clearly the path to recovery, that it had many parts to it, that it was a program that he would have to work step by step. It is more than "just say no." There is a process to follow, a way to walk in. This is true in our Christian lives. There is a Savior to follow, a way to walk in, a fellowship to participate in. The grace of Christ not only saves, it teaches and trains us. Walter Liefeld writes that in Hebrew education, the goal of learning the law "was not to be an educated person, but to be a good son or daughter of the covenant." So our life in Christ is always to be formed, to be shaped morally by Christ and the Word. Because Christ appeared among us, and died for us, we have grace that teaches us to say 'no' to ungodliness.

            This process takes place "while we wait for the blessed hope." Liefeld says that the waiting connects our behavior to hope. We are then drawn by hope to make an investment in godly living, in compassion and justice. Because Christ is returning we live in a way that might otherwise be discouraging or disappointing. Godliness and compassion are often difficult. But we live in preparation for something greater to come. So when we have those moments of Christmas worship, or Christmas joy or peace, we also receive Christmas hope. The love of Christ that touches our hearts, also plants hope within us, renews us in a life of love. We do not give up. We do not slide into a worldly pattern. We do not go back to an old way of life. We move ahead with Christ and to Christ. The one who was born into our world because of the love of God for us, the one who died for the forgiveness of our sins, is the one who will return to make things right and complete what has begun.

            Liefeld writes, "God's saving grace does not end at the crucial point of our salvation, but accompanies us on the further journey of our new life, providing the wisdom and direction needed to remake our now-redeemed lives."

            At Christmas we see the grace of God and touch it. And then what? Then we are formed by that grace as we live toward the day of his return.

            Amen.